Today I had planned to go and visit with my sweet friend, Marci. I LOVE this gal! She and I are like soul sista's! We are both free-spirit, hippie, gypsy girls, and I think we could both travel the world together and never look back. So I was very excited about going to her house and enjoying lunch with her and the four boys. Then I remembered - I'm not eating BREAD! ACK! So I told Marci I would be bringing my own lunch, because I certainly didn't expect her to try to cater to me and my crazy stomach.
So last night, I stayed up a little late looking up gluten free bread recipes, and I came across some really great looking ones. I finally found one that I had most of the ingredients for - from the bags of "flour" that I had bought grocery shopping the night before. And for what I didn't have, I looked online to find a suitable substitute, which I DID have! (YAY for Google! I just LOVE the info I can find on the Internet!) Before I went to bed last night, I mixed up all the dry ingredients so I could have a jump on my bread making this morning before going for my visit. When I woke this morning, I went straight to my kitchen to finish up making my bread. All I can say is - WOW! It smelled WONDERFUL! I finally realized what it is that I love about bread baking in my house. It's the YEAST! It smells sooooo wonderful! I even topped this bread with some sesame seeds to give it a good texture and to make it look and taste more "real". I wrapped it up, and I was off to visit my friend.
Before lunch, I pulled out my electric knife and sliced it into sandwich sized pieces. Marci, Britches, and I were ready to try it. We all three took a bite and - well, it was... different. We decided it would be much better slathered in butter, so of course that's what we did! Bread without butter is just crazy! It was really pretty good with the butter on it.
For lunch, though, I had mixed up peanut butter and homemade muscadine jelly, and that's what went in my sandwich. I must say, with PB&J, that was a really delicious bread! And I am thinking it's going to be really great as French toast, toast and jelly, or just warmed with butter as a side for my left over potato soup tonight.
There are several other recipes I plan to try in the near future, but not until I finish this loaf. All in all, though, this recipe is a keeper. I really liked the way it rose, just like my normal yeast bread. It had a great texture. There was no soy flour in it, so it didn't have any funky taste I didn't like. And it held up well for my sandwich. I'm pretty sure I will be making this one again.
This really was a lot easier to make than my regular yeast bread, too, because you only mix everything once, put it in the loaf pan, and let it rise. There is no kneading and waiting and kneading and waiting.
If you are playing around with the idea of gluten free foods, here is the recipe - just to try. Remember, you don't have to commit to anything just by making something like this. Call it a science experiment, and be prepared to throw it out if you hate it. You don't have to be married to it forever. Just give it a try! I did substitute a few items, since I didn't have the other items readily available. I swapped the tapioca or potato starch for corn starch. Instead of millet flour, I used brown rice flour. And instead of xanthan gum, I used an equal amount of milled flax seed. I did use the 2 whipped egg whites, and it did work well.
So if you DO give this recipe a try, leave me a comment and tell me how it went for you. Tell me what you liked or didn't like about it.
And now, I'm heading off to reheat some left over yummy cheesy potato soup for supper! Can't wait to try it with my new BREAD!
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